The Cop Killer (31 page)

“May, might I just have a quiet word”?

“Why certainly Mrs Richards” and the three of them sauntered along the corridor.

 May could be heard saying, “Why of course your friend may use the toilets here, I will show you where they are, staff only you see” were the last words that Ethel could hear May speak.

An hour later Doris was driving Jack and the Professor along the road out of Chester, just in time as she saw the large crowds gathering for the demonstration, by the, “Workers Party”.

They arrived at Wrexham Church nearly an hour later.

The doors of the church were open and so Jack and Bolister went inside leaving Doris in charge of the car, she was not going to permit the fiasco of the last occasion when she received a parking ticket to occur again.

Jack and Bolister were only minutes when they arrived back, putting the brief case into the boot, Bolister was soon seated and ready for the off.

It was just before lunchtime when the hire car stopped on the high and lonely road of the Long Mynd in Church Stretton. All three now left the vehicle, causing Jack to call, “Inspector, you have set the handbrake?” I wouldn’t like our car to roll over the top”.

Realising he was acting like Striker, treating her with contempt he turned off the subject and said.

“Come look over here. This is what real policing is all about”.

The professor walked back and forth and took samples from here and there.

Fifteen minutes later they were on their way and at 2pm they arrived at Sefton`s Garage in Crewe, Cheshire.

A small man met them in his fifties he walked with a limp.

“Mr Sefton” asked Doris.

“Yes Inspector Ling and Mr Richards I take it”.

“Yes” replied Doris who thought she must get a bloody name change the good, bad and the ugly it seems were reluctant to use her double-barrelled name, Scott-Ling

“We have come to inspect the police car I spoke to you about” she said

“Ah, its round the back” replied Sefton, “no-one has been near it, for cops they seem bloody windy”.

Arriving at the back of the garage, they saw the police car still wrapped in its protective covering.

Sefton momentarily left then returned with a man wearing an oily overall, the two removed the covering permitting Bolister easy access inside the vehicle.  He was only minutes taking samples from the interior of the vehicle and under its wheel arches.

Thanking Sefton they were gone and enroute for Manchester stopping for a late and light lunch at Northenden only a mile or so from Chorlton Lake.

They arrived at the lake at 5pm. The three arrived at the scene of the death of Rick Masterton.

They were disturbed the see the memorial that had been placed there was now vandalised with spray paint the letters ACAB being clearly visible. Jack and Doris recognised the letters, as being all coppers are bastards but made no comment as Bolister went about his examination and sample taking.

At 7pm, they made their final stop at the lay-by at Broxton, and once again, it was only fifteen minutes when the necessary samples had been taken and stored.

“They arrived back in Chester at 8.30pm Jack then produced the axe he had found on his door step, handing this to Bolister.

“Ah right yes”. Said Bolister, “the axe and Wrexham Sid, thank you, Jack”.

“I will do the necessary and include my findings with the rest. I will send you my report as soon as possible”, said Bolister, “by courier I take it?”

Yes please,” replied Jack

They shook hands and parted company.

It was 10pm before Jack finally sat in his chair, what a long exhausting day he had suffered. Doris had said she was required at the Police station for several days so he thought that other than making up his notes, contemplating and commencing to start his report, the dinner being only days away, he could catch up on some rest.

He did spend a moment to sympathise thinking of Bolister having to travel back to Birmingham. Jack realised they had, had little to eat and strangely enough he did not feel hungry.

He was about to leave for bed when he heard a noise at the door.

“Christ” he thought, “Wrexham Sid”.

His fears were allayed when Anne walked in saying “I knew you would never come back so Craig arranged a seat on a flight for me and here I am”.

“Well how very pleasing to see you my dear” he said.

“My," she replied “the house looks spic and span, no dirty crockery, nor pots and pans, my how you have been looking after things.”

He made no mention of the additional services of May; neither did he as he settled down to sleep it now being just after 1am.

The following morning he was sitting in his study when the telephone rang, it was Craig.

“Hello Craig do you wish to speak with mother”

“Yes, but first I wonder if I might ask a favour”.

“If I can help I will”, replied Jack

“Well” said Craig, “a lady from Daram the name is Ramona she appears to have disappeared over there, she was making some enquiries of some police officers but has disappeared. Her family are worried I wondered if there have been any reports”

“I will look into it,” replied Jack then handing the telephone to Anne.

“Blast” he thought, he could smell trouble, the enquiry more or less completed now this.

He rang Doris “Sorry to bother you about work but the lady who was making enquires of the dead officers.”

“I have just received a call from Craig it seems a lady named Ramona from Daram has gone missing possibly here in the UK”

 “It appears she is the one who had been visiting the dead officers. Can you make some enquiries with Scotland Yard to see if there are reports of a missing person or I am sorry to say a death?”

“I will do that and come back to you”.

 He sat and contemplated on everything that had occurred. There was one possibility that came to his mind; it was a way out thought but, in the event of nothing else. 

If this woman was not traced, he would have to check it out way out or not.

It would be dodgy, possibly the end of him if he went into a blind alley.

After some time Doris rang back, all negative on Ramona, nothing on any Ramona.

He took the plunge. He rang Professor Webster and Garden Rescue and that night they visited the isolated church of Wixton.

 The grave was opened, the coffin lifted, the contents examined.

All present made a gasp at what they discovered inside the coffin.

Webster made his usual examination and sample taking, and then announced all was completed and that which was removed from the grave was replaced.

Professor Webster looked, smiled and said, “Now that was a bloody shock but I found what you suspected. I confirm it is another case of the natural cause syndrome, I will do the tests but believe me, it will be another case”.

Within the hour, all was quiet. It would seem he had got away with it.

No one had visited, he had told neither of his associates he had no court order, nor had he told Doris, not wishing to involve her if it all went wrong.

PART TWELVE

THE LAST SUPPER

It was 6pm, Doris had just telephoned to say she was carrying out the last enquiry he had allocated her and she would hope to complete these in time to be at the venue at 7pm or just after.

“Jack it is time you got bathed and changed. The taxi will be here soon”. Called, Anne.

“Changed?”

Why would I want to get changed?” I am not invited to the bloody dinner just working to make my report”.

“Now don’t be silly, here is your dark suit, put it on or we will be the talk of the place,” said Anne.

As usual when she put him under pressure he always buckled and was soon in the tub, bathed then dressed and getting into the taxi.

He arrived at the Grosvenor, the largest and most up market hotel in Chester.

Looking through the glass door, he saw proceedings were under way.

“As Home Secretary may I first of thank you all for inviting me once again to your annual conference and to the unusual event about to take place. I would be remiss if I failed to offer a vote of thanks and best wishes to Christian Woodcock, QPM one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary, having learned today he has decided to retire from office and public service. I am sure you will all wish him well as I do.”

There was a round of applause and calls of “here, here”.

 He went on, “I am pleased to announce today the retirement of the current Chief Constable of Cheshire, Miles Ridwell, QPM though there will be no tranquillity for him however for I have appointed him one of my Constabulary Inspectors to replace Mr Woodcock, who will be sadly missed!”

He sat down to a round of applause.

“Home Secretary, Your Lordship, Chief Inspector and Inspectors of Her Majesty’s Constabularies and fellow Chief Constables, may I first introduce myself to those who do not know me, I am Miles Ridwell.”

“I have been until today Chief Constable of Cheshire and your host this evening. I hope you all had a very productive conference over the last two days, in the famous five stars
Chester Grosvenor Hotel and Spa”.

“We are fortunate with all the cuts that the Home Secretary was gracious enough to provide funds to ensure the facility went on as normal, thank you sir.”

There was a round of applause and numerous calls, of “Here, here” even some knocking on the table indicating there was more than one Freemason present.

“I now welcome you all to the annual dinner after the conference with I believe some very unusual entertainment rather than the normal speeches”.

This new face after dinner event is entirely due to the tacit efforts of Christian Woodcock with the approval of the Home Secretary and Mr Jepson, the Chief Inspector.  As a result, we will have a special guest to entertain us.  May I first of all ask you to rise and toast the health of Her Majesty the Queen?”

“The Queen”

Ridwell sat down he was no longer a Chief Constable but a watcher of the event and he relished the idea.

A lavish five-course meal with a choice of Fresh River Dee salmon, caught in Chester or roast Deer being the highlight of the main course.

Sidney the headwaiter who, unknown to those present held some dark secrets of his own.

He was tonight however in full uniform, strutting around organising so that everything went according to plan with such high-powered guests.

The Hotel Manager appearing twice and confirming as usual Sidney was ensuring the reputation of the hotel was performing to the finest standards thus enhancing the reputation it already had.

The meal finished there was a tapping on the table and when the diners looked up it was Christian Woodcock at the helm.

Silence now in progress, Woodcock commenced what was likely to be one of his last official duties and official functions call it what you may.

“Home Secretary, My Lord and brother officers, oh I apologise and sisters I see,” There was a laugh as the female officers present put up their glasses in acknowledgement; they had not been forgotten, for once some thought.

Woodcock looking to the rear of the room, relaxed seeing his guest had arrived and so continued.

 “Some time ago whilst carrying out my inspections a very unusual series of deaths was brought to my attention, five dead police officers in fact. None seemingly, known to each other, serving in different forces, Cheshire here, Manchester, Wrexham and Shropshire.” 

“The cases were all investigated locally, nothing of a criminal nature was discovered, and all the deaths were confirmed as natural causes after medical examination by pathologists.”

“In spite of this, as all the officers were young in service and apparently before their deaths were all fit and healthy, this caused me to wonder and I may add nothing more than that, I did however wonder if there was anything more in the cases?”

 “With the approval of the Home Secretary I approached and sought the experience and services of the country’s most experienced detective Mr Jack Richards, an ex Superintendent of New Scotland Yard, now retired.” 

“There may be some who will recall a variety of his more famous cases and I might say as he is not in the room, you may well know him by his trade name, “Jack the Hat”. I see he has arrived, I will call him to speak to us without delay when hopefully we will hear the results, if any, of his investigations.”

With that, he looked up waved at Sidney who showed no signs of any emotion then brought in the star speaker.

Jack was dressed slightly different, he was wearing his trilby but due to pressures at home, he had in fact put on a dark suit last worn at the funeral of his mother, 25 years ago. 

He took off his trilby hat looked around but finding no stand to throw it onto; he placed it on the table. 

Invited to have a drink, he said with a smile, “Thank you, Sid a glass of water, please, from the glass on the table if you don’t mind”, this caused Sidney to look up, “Sid indeed your time will come” thought Jack, but said nothing.

Jack saw the staring eyes and eager faces around the room, all eyes being beamed upon him.

“Home Secretary and other distinguished guests there comes a time in every investigation when the man who has been charged with investigating these tragic events has to report his findings.”

“In view of the tragic circumstances of these matters may I first of all ask you all to stand with heads bowed and remain silent for one minute as a mark of respect for the fallen officers?”

There was a shuffling of seats and feet, then silence.

After half a minute there was, a terrific crash and loud voice called “blast the bloody thing”.

It was Sid who had dropped and broken a full jug of water it appears he intended to bring it into the room.

Jack looked realised Sid’s motive for the disturbance but failed to react in voice or expression but thought, only moments left for you my son.

“I will get straight on not wishing to take up more of your valued drinking time than is necessary”. Jack said.

There were low-key laughs and Woodcock immediately thought disaster had struck, Jack the hat the famous detective had found nothing.

He could literally feel the egg yolk running down his face even before the guest speaker had hardly spoken.

Jack continued, “I confess these deaths of such young officers are not only very unusual but sad cases in fact devastating, such young loss of life and trauma for the loved ones of those who died.”

There were calls of, “here, here”, around the room.

“I have been ably assisted during my enquires, by Inspector Scott-Ling who you will more than likely meet later.”

“In addition my thanks goes out to Chief Superintendent Denton-Smyth the boss here in Chester for permitting the officer to assist me and for providing us with a fine office and surroundings.” 

“The atmosphere in the building has gone a long way to providing the correct climate in which to operate. I do in fact work in the museum adjacent to the main police station; my office is from the Victorian era, the days when crimes were investigated thoroughly as a matter of course”.

 There were no reactions to this it being a veiled suggestion such was not the case these days under the modern leadership.

“I have visited each of the forces and spoken with each individual Chief-Constables where the deceased officers were serving. I report they have all been very helpful in all aspects; I thank them for this cooperation”. 

“I visited the next of kin of the deceased officers. None could recall or suggest any reason for the deaths of their loved ones save from natural causes.” 

“No suggestions were made of any criminal holding a grudge or that their loved ones had been involved in anything suspicious”.

“The only strange item was that of a mysterious lady whose description appeared shall I say to be of none Caucasian appearance.” 

“She visited all the officers and had a private conversation with each officer outside their homes.”

On completion of the conversations, no officer would relate anything of the woman’s visit. Each lady of the house commented that each officer was left with a grimace expression but they assumed it was some form of ex marital affair, possibly a pregnancy. I made enquiries but events I will describe later totally discount this theory”.

He continued, “I have visited each of the scenes of the deaths on two occasions and in the second instance I was accompanied by Professor Bolister the world renowned Forensic Scientist from the Home Office Establishment at Gooch Street in Birmingham”.

“I will give a narrative of the results of the visits when in company with the expert, though in no particular order”.

“At Chorlton Lake in Manchester our enquiries revealed the area had recently been reconstructed from what was a waste tip. Samples were obtained at the scene where the deceased was last known to have been prior to his body being recovered from the water.” 

“These were later analysed and traces of a horticultural chemical called Aldrin, now banned were discovered”.

“When I visited Wrexham parish church speaking with the resident vicar, I discovered there had been some discord at the time Constable Ifor Evans was found dead, seated in a pew which had recently been treated.” In fear damage may have been caused to the newly treated wood his action caused some lasting discord.”

“A second visit was made in company with Professor Bolister. A close examination was made of the pew concerned and as a result certain unusual fibres were discovered and again retained for further examination”

“The results would be prudent later in my investigations”.

“In addition a fingerprint was discovered. Samples were taken and the fingerprint lifted for further examination”.

“In Shropshire the scene was a very rural area at a beauty spot called The Long Mynd mountain range.”

“The police vehicle had been parked at the top and for some reason possibly the driver had fallen either asleep or unconscious.”

“The vehicle being in neutral gear, the hand brake off, it had rolled over the edge and down the slope.” 

“A close examination of the scene revealed there were as one might expect not only sheep droppings but also more unusually, droppings of the game bird Grouse, not found in any other location for many miles around. Samples were taken by Professor Bolister for examination”.